1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the thermostatic control of a sample fluid to be analyzed, as well as of reagents and of optionally necessary solvents for performing analyses in an automatic analyzer, in which the associated samples and reagents are moved to different processing stations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many analyses and particularly in certain analyses in clinical laboratories and the like, it is of decisive importance that the analyses be performed at a specific, reproducible temperature, so that the analytical results obtained provide valid information and can be compared with other analytical results. This is particularly important in the case of enzyme-kinetic measurements and the like, in which the reaction process is determined during the analysis, said reaction process being very dependent on the temperature.
In a known analyzer marketed by Du Pont de Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH under the tradename "aca SYSTEM", different clinical analyses are performed on a sample fluid taken from a patient. A reagent container with the corresponding reagents is selected for each of the analyses to be performed. This reagent container comprises a plastic bag, which has various closed reception areas for reagents and a flexible cuvette or cell area. The bag is hung on a hook, which carries a code identifying the reagent contained in the bag. Part of the sample fluid is introduced into a sample container with which is associated a card identifying the patient. The sample container including the card, and the reagent container are then introduced into the analyzer and the analytical process is started. For this purpose, the sample fluid from the sample container, together with reagent and optionally solvent, are brought into the vicinity of the flexible cell in the analyzer and the reaction process which occurs is photometrically measured.
In order to be able to perform a correct analysis in this analyzer, the sample, the reagents in the reagent container and the optionally necessary solvent must be at a predetermined temperature prior to combining, and must be kept at this temperature during the analytical process. This is relatively simple with respect to the solvent, because it is stored in a container in the analyzer, which can be kept without difficulty at a constant temperature. However, the sample fluid and the reagents must initially be thermostatically controlled after being introduced into the analyzer, for which purpose they are brought into an area at a corresponding temperature and are kept there until they have reached this temperature. After combining the sample fluid, reagents and optionally the solvent, it must also be ensured that there is no change to the mixture temperature, i.e., in the area of the analyzer in which the photometric measurement of the analytical process takes place, the given temperature must be maintained.
It is immediately apparent that considerable expenditures for apparatus are required to provide large spaces in an analyzer which must be continuously kept at a constant temperature, and the problem of the present invention is therefore to simplify the thermostatic control of a sample fluid to be analyzed, together with reagents and optionally necessary solvents, together with the actual thermostatic control during the analytical process.